Planning for an Indie Future: Creating a Business Plan

posted by Saul

All too often I talk to or hear about a writer who's published a book on Amazon or through Smashwords and it's clear they have no idea what to do next. Now, granted, some of these writers don't aspire to a career in writing, but many do, and so it astonishes me to think that they've taken the first step on a very long journey without properly preparing for it.

Where's your plan?

Before the indie movement, before the technology was available to allow Joe Anywriter to publish, the basic book writer's business plan went basically as follows:

1. Write
2. Submit
3. Fret
4. Revise
5. Repeat steps 2-4 ad infinitum
6. Die

For many, the democratization of publishing has simplified this:

How to Prepare for the Inevitable (Publishing) Apocalypse

posted by Saul

(to be read to R.E.M.'s It's the End of the World as We Know It playing in the background)

What will publishing look like in the future? Hell, what on earth will it look like next year? Nobody knows. So, how do writers prepare for it?

By listening to the message and ignoring the hype.

I had originally planned to talk a little bit about my specific self-publishing marketing plan today, but after a week and a half in the tropics doing research on my upcoming YA short story collection Zombies in Bermuda Shorts, I decided to do something a bit less serious (yes, the research was serious; for example, I found out zombies love shrimp cocktails) and talk about the state of publishing, since there seems to be a hell of a lot of arm-waving going on right now that would put the Wall Street protests to shame if it weren't being done in private writer cubbies all over the world.

Indie Writers, Map Out Your Journey Before Hitting the Self-Pub Road (Part Two: Creating a Roadmap).

This is the second part of three on my series of blog posts for new indie writers. Part One discussed the writer's decision to go indie. Part Three, which will be posted next week, will be an outline of my own business plan and rationale.

posted by Saul

No serious-minded indie writer is going to set out on the self-pub journey without first having drafted a solid business plan that includes a vision of what to expect and what to accomplish along the way. Goal setting must be firmly couched in the real world and based on real-world experiences.

So how does a noob acquire such wisdom?

Indie Writers, Map Out Your Journey Before Hitting the Self-Pub Road (Part One: The Decision)

(posted by Saul)

I’ve been reading more and more frequently disturbing stories about writers frustrated with how hard it is to break into traditional publishing and instead making their way into self-publishing, only to find their frustration compounded by how hard it is to get people to buy their stories.

Believe me, self-pubbing is not a shortcut, and it’s definitely not a route to be taken by everyone. Publication isn’t simply a destination. It’s a series of stops and starts, detours and expressways. Sometimes the road is smooth and the horizon clear; other times, the route may seem to disappear altogether, the path so rough and treacherous that you’ll constantly wonder whether your mental suspension might give out at any moment.

Weekly Rejection Roundup

A so-so week. No snail mail or ejections, but I marked off two subs as soft rejections based on the "No word means no interest" policy of those houses. Won't list all the numbers, as there's been so little change.


Mood Meter (on a scale of -5 to +5 with -5 being downright rotten and +5 being ecstatic): 3.2

Change from last week: -0.1

Took a -0.2 drop due to expiration of two subs, but a +0.1 raise as I figured out what was tying me up with my WIP.

This Week's Rejection Tally

This week I hit a milestone of sorts in my writing career (today, actually): got my 100th rejection. FS&G gets the prize, a nice juicy raspberry... plus my next sub next week. Otherwise, it was a pretty slow week.

Anyway, here are this week's stats, folks:

Total manuscripts out: 51
Unique PBs: 23
> New this week: 2
Unique MG/YA: 2
> New this week: 0

Total rejections:
Form: 2
Personal: 1*
> Positive: 1
> Negative: 0
For a date: 0
*anything that directly references my submission

Total requests: 1
Partials: 0
Fulls: 0
Phone numbers: 1 (admittedly, from a new colleague, not an agent or editor)

Mood Meter (on a scale of -5 to +5 with -5 being downright rotten and +5 being ecstatic): 3.1
(the 0.1 is because I sent out my first sub on a funny PB MS about...

drum roll

... Snot.

And I'm still giggling.

I think I need to get out more.

Gleaning Hope on the Overcrowded Publishing Highway

Jim Milliot of Publishers Weekly posted some interesting numbers today about how self-pubbing is overtaking traditionally pubbed books. I was shocked to see that that ratio is nearly 3:1 with a total of over a million titles published last year. Wow.

My first impression that there's a hell of a lot of people out there who want to see their name on a cover. Yes, I have a bias, but it's been my experience, so I think it's safe to say - and I know I'll catch heat for this - but a lot of self-pubbed stuff is total crap. No, I don't deny that traditional houses don't publish crap, too, but when you have agents and editors filtering through it all, it does tend to raise the overall quality. Not sure where the trend to self-pub is going and what it'll mean for the future of publishing as a whole, but one downside of having access to so much is it tends to have a numbing effect on us.

Which makes me wonder: How are people supposed to find the best titles to read? I suppose there are processes in place to help, professional readers whose opinions we learn to churn through the muck, raising the cream to the top (to mix metaphors). But how well will this work when the publishing pond becomes an ocean?

I did find some encouraging news in the numbers. Areas that saw growth in titles sold last year include children's books (up 6%). Presumably, this includes all ages and genres. Well, I think this only substantiates what agents and editors have been telling us for the past 18 months. Let's hope the trend continues.

Also insightful, nonfiction (technical) rose by 11%. I think this is across the spectrum, from children's books to adult, but I'm wagering that if you write children's NF on a technology subject, you'll stand an easier chance of finding a home for it. It doesn't surprise me that tech should fare well, given how rapidly it's evolving. Just make sure the subject you're writing about is as up-to-date and forward looking as possible, or else it'll be out-of-date before it hits shelves.

Now, I think I'll go work on that emerging medicine series for children I've been thinking about...

Crossroads: Children's Picture Books in a Digital Age

I downloaded the free Kindle app for PC this morning, mostly to see what free content I could find (yes, I'm cheap). I don't own an ebook reader, nor do I plan to buy one in the near future. I like my analogue versions just fine. It's not that I'm against the technology, it's just that I don't think it's finished maturing just yet. I made a point a while back that with mobile devices incorporating more and more functionality, dedicated devices such as ebook readers will become obsolete. Apple's iPad is a shift in that direction. I like the idea of the iPad, but I'll wait until the competition catches up.

In searching Amazon's classics catalogue for free books, I was disappointed by the lack of children's picture books. There are none (or none that I could find). Understandably so, I guess, since most of the free content is from over eighty years ago, but even the Beatrix Potter stories were all text. But when I checked out some of the pay products - and there are a few dozens of picture books you can buy for the Kindle - I was disappointed, both by the selection as well as the experience.

Which raises a question. Are children's picture books immune to digitization? It got me thinking about why paper picture books work and how it may or may not translate to the screen.

First, let me just say that I think a shift of picture books to the screen is inevitable. Second, neither is it a bad thing. Okay, so maybe the Kindle and other ereaders aren't the right format for such books, but that doesn't mean the technology or the promise of a technology capable of bringing a picture book alive doesn't exist. Heck, if you think about it in broad terms, picture books have been on screen for decades. I mean, aren't Saturday morning cartoons just picture books on TV? Remember "Fractured Fairy Tales" on the Bullwinkle Show? How long did "Reading Rainbow" run?

I know, that's not exactly the same as taking a picture book and digitizing it. Why? Interactivity.

The joy of reading a picture book is in the fusion of image and word, the bond formed between parent and child and between child and book. Can a screen do the same as a printed page? What if that screen is large and in high resolution color? Well, for standard PBs, probably, but certainly not for pop-up and touch-and-feel books. That's why the technology can't stop at a point where the screen acts simply as a proxy for the printed page. Picture books are intended to be interactive, and picture book stories conveyed digitally will never replace the tactile experience, not alone at least. Minimally, picture book digitization will require a device that can allow a child to manipulate the text and image.

I'll make some predictions, and we'll see whether or nor they play out in the coming years.

1. Television will become the first digital device of choice for picture book stories, not ereaders. That's because,

2. Portable devices capable of delivering the quality of experience a paper picture book provides are a long ways off from being affordable.

3. First-to-market technologies that enable a child to navigate the story on-screen with a simple inexpensive hand-held device (controller) will set the standard.

4. Adaptation of, or development of apps for, current gaming systems, such as Wii and PlayStation, for picture books will likely be the first generation products.

5. Illustrators and publishers will need to rethink how they go about designing and publishing picture books to be more amenable to the new formats.

6. This will open up a whole new world of possibilities for how authors conceive and write their stories, not restrict them. Writers receptive to these changes will be more successful.

So, anyone interested in starting a joint venture?

WRT: Submissions - Keeping and Staying on Track

Probably one of the most tedious (if not frustrating) aspects of the writing-for-publication process is keeping track of submissions. A necessary evil, it still manages to drive me batty. Every house, editor, and agent wants something different: SASE/no SASE, first 10 pages (no, first 20 or 50), snail versus email versus online form sub, YA but not MG, MG but not mystery... and on and on.

Plus, we're seeing even more uncertainty in the market - who's where when, who's going where, who's no longer open.

Gaah!

So, what's the easiest way to store and maintain all that information in a way that ensures you have the most up-to-date details? Do you use an online website such as QueryTracker? A dedicated software package? An analogue system (hardcopies of letters, file cards, etc)? Regardless of what you use, it's absolutely essential that you keep track of those subs, if even to avoid those embarrassing breaches of etiquette. Mostly, it's just good business practice.

For me, what I've found is a spreadsheet (MS Excel) works best. I like knowing that I have control over the information. And while that means doing the legwork myself, it also means I can customize it however I want.

My spreadsheet looks something like this (click on image to get a Hi Res shot):

I like Excel because you can keep multiple levels of information through hyperlinks, comments, and embedded text. You can freeze panes so that headers are always in view. Colors provide cues as to what's out, what's been rejected, where I want to send, who's closed, etc. I also use shorthand notations and other tricks to minimize text while maximizing information. For example, I use ISO standards for dates (YYMMDD) that allow me to search and sort.

It took me a lot of time to set up, and it's a lot of work to maintain the information. But, like I said, it allows me to control the information. And that's really what's important, isn't it?

I'm curious. How do you keep track of all this information?